UPDATE: Hackensack drug bust nets 25 arrests

HACKENSACK — Twenty-five people were arrested early Thursday morning on various drug distribution and possession charges, police said.

Capt. Tomas Padilla, the acting officer in charge of the Police Department, said the “street-level narcotics” arrests were a result of several undercover investigations conducted jointly by the Hackensack police and members of the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Narcotic Task Force. During a press conference, he said the five-month investigation, dubbed “Operation Hack-en-sack em” garnered more than $10,000 in drug money.

“This puts a significant dent on street level operations,” said Padilla, who led the press conference which was attended by members of the Prosecutor’s Office. “This was several neighborhoods in the city of Hackensack, it wasn’t concentrated in one location.”

The investigation began with tips to city and county authorities, police said. The information led undercover detectives from the county to purchase marijuana, ecstasy, Xanax, and cocaine from the people who were arrested, police said.

Police executed two search warrants on Thursday at two residential buildings, located on Washington Avenue and North Prospect Avenue, Padilla said. He said the search of the dwellings netted 5 ounces of marijuana.

Padilla said police also confiscated a .40 caliber Glock handgun from Terry Nelson, 35, of Hackensack, who was charged with distribution and possession of controlled dangerous substance and possession of handgun and stolen property. Padilla said the gun had been reported stolen.

Most of the arrests were made in Hackensack, Padilla said.

The Police Department for the first time used its Emergency Response Team, a unit of 12 officers who have received training on entering high-risk buildings. Padilla said the unit was split into two teams on Thursday and assigned to the locations where the search warrants were issued.

“They were able to secure these locations quickly and, most importantly, safely so that then the teams from the Prosecutor’s Office and a couple of my detectives could do their search and inventory.”

The captain said another person who faces charges in connection to the investigation has been in contact with the police and is expected to turn himself in on Friday.

Padilla and City Manager Stephen Lo Iacono said the arrests show that city police are doing their jobs, despite recent internal turmoil.

“A lot of people think there is nothing going on here other than the lawsuits and police [disciplinary] hearings, but the department is still functioning,” Lo Iacono said.